The entrance off Sniffens Lane in Stratford to the new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

A pair of Bridgeport residents checks out the new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

A new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway was recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho in Stratford on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

An Airport security vehicle patrols the new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

Filled in marsh along the side of the new City of Bridgeport-owned driveway recently completed to access the waterfront home of Mark IV Construction owner Manuel Moutinho, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

BRIDGEPORT -- Feeling "hoodwinked" after unknowingly approving a $400,000 driveway to a controversial developer's seaside mansion in Stratford and concerned about the internal investigation, members of the City Council are calling for a "Congressional-type" hearing in an effort to get answers.

"Everything we know we read in the papers. But we don't know why it happened," Olson said in an impromptu speech just as members were calling for the Monday meeting to adjourn. "We don't know why we weren't told. It may be because of the inherent desire of both the executive and legislative branch to keep things under wraps. ...Whatever it is, many reputations have been hurt badly, all the way from the mayor down to every one of us. And it's a damn shame because it should not have happened."

Olson said the council's only recourse would be to hold a question-and-answer session with all parties involved to clear up any misunderstandings and allow the council to see where city law loopholes or gaps allowed it to happen.

His outburst followed a secret hourlong discussion in a caucus session abruptly called by Council President Thomas McCarthy soon after the meeting began. The topic of that discussion was the airport controversy, according to several council members.

City officials claim the city used bond money, not federal funds, to pay Moutinho to build new access to the three homes at the end of Main Street.

Moutinho's Mark IV Construction Co. was awarded the contract after Sikorsky Airport Manager John Ricci gathered three quotes for the gravel driveway. The process was expedited to meet a 2015 deadline for the expansion of the airport's safety zone, city officials said.

But Moutinho had already received approval for the driveway and, by all accounts, was planning to pay roughly $200,000 himself for the work before the city stepped in. Ricci is on paid administrative leave for allegedly failing to tell officials that he had a 30-plus year friendship and business relationship with Moutinho.

Council members last week said they had no idea the funds were included in a $3 million airport funding package they approved last year.

"When is the executive branch going to get it? When are we going to get it?" Olson asked of no one in particular. "The public perception is what really matters. They don't have the time to know all the facts, but they have a perception and they draw their own conclusions. And the conclusion is that there is gross malfeasance going on. It may not be true at all. But it doesn't matter. So I hope we can get this thing out in the open and get it behind us."

After the meeting, Councilman Carlos Silva, D-136, said he wasn't sure if a hearing of this type had ever been held in the city, but he doesn't see why the council couldn't do it.

Silva, who is co-chairman of the Contracts Committee that approved the funding package last year, said he would prefer the meeting be open to the public, even if it means waiting for the internal probe to be over.

"I think it's justified; I think the people of the city need answers as much as we do," he said. "As much as I don't want to admit it, we were hoodwinked. We weren't given all the information. I think we need as a council to put together a Congressional-type panel and ask questions."

Silva is not sure the city will be much closer to understanding what happened after the internal investigation being conducted by the Office of Labor Relations is complete.

He noted that Council President Thomas McCarthy, a city labor attorney, also serves on the airport commission that worked with Ricci, the airport manager.

And if the labor office needs assistance, it could call upon the City Attorney's Office -- even though associate city attorney Lisa Trachtenburg worked on the airport deal in question.

"The question I asked today is how can the internal investigation be done by labor relations and city attorney's offices when they were in on it from the beginning?" asked Silva. "Someone had to see something."

Mayor Bill Finch did not address the issue of a hearing, but told the council he was just as concerned about the controversy.

"I just want to briefly respond and let everybody know that this is a serious matter and I share your concern, Councilman Olson, as well as everyone else's concern here who has expressed similar thoughts," the mayor said. "We are investigating this thoroughly and we will get to the bottom of it. And if someone has done something wrong they will be punished. It's as simple as that."

"As soon as I know anything, I will be making public comments, but at this point it's under investigation," Finch added.

Asked on Wednesday whether the mayor would be open to taking part in a hearing, his spokeswoman, Elaine Ficarra, said: "Once the investigation is complete, Mayor Finch plans to appear before the City Council and apprise them and the public of the administration's activities related to this investigation."

The city labor attorney, McCarthy, has said he had no previous knowledge of the driveway or Moutinho's involvement.

Last week, Ficarra said neither McCarthy nor the City Attorney's Office were taking part in the investigation.